^ Another problem with the ADV Sailor Moon sets was that the audio was at least a second out of sync on the opening sequence for most of the first season, like how the shot with one mask, then three masks, then a whole bunch of masks is supposed to sync with the music in-between the end of "Ima sugu ai tai you" and the start of "Nakitaku naru you na moonlight", but, on the ADV Films set version, the "Nakitaku" starts when the first mask is only halfway turned.
Was this in
all of them, not just the box-sets but the individual DVD volumes as well? This is a legit question because I decided to
bite the bullet and buy that particular "Diamond Series" on eBay as my birthday present--came a little late, but it came regardless, and they're actual physical copies lovingly shipped straight from Canada, which backs up the positive feedback. I popped in the first disc of the first season for a test run and hallelujah it works. But it's definitely super suspicious and looks real certain to be a bootleg, especially since the quality looks kinda "eh" for a DVD quality, but that's what happens on HD TVs, and it's not distracting to me, personally, being an anime pirate.
Picture proof:
The DVD menu (first disc) I believe is ripped straight from the first ADV volume "A Heroine is Chosen" complete with the vanity plates in the beginning because I'm telling you that I cannot find any information on a "Diamond Series" or a "limited collector edition" for Sailor Moon anywhere. These were apparently mass-produced back in 2014 (
example from a post in 2014 showing off her collection), there's multiple,
multiple copies of these floating around of each season plus the movie collection for Region 1 DVD players. Supposedly, they're distributed by "Animage Sweden" but again, I can't find
jackshit. The "authorized by ADV Films/Pioneer Films/Toei Animation" claims I'm sure are full of shit. (Sorry for shitty photos.)
The reason I am not pissed off about this whatsoever is that this looks like it takes up less space on my shelf than it would've had I bought the official ADV releases for the original dub. The Blu-Ray parts probably take up about the same amount of space, but I honestly liked the original DiC and Cloverway dubs, they're cheesy and fun and I never felt like it was a slog to watch like with most Toei shows (
Sailor Stars included). Also fuck paying like fifty bucks for only twenty episodes apiece.
I'm going to watch it with my brother since he's interested in checking it out, but we're gonna be sticking with the dub track anyway. On my own time, I'll have to check out the Japanese track to see how it fares and if the sync issue remains. But there you go, this is my journey as a pirate all because I just wanted to go old-school and if it'll rustle Viz's jimmies then so be it (but I made it up to you, Viz, by buying your Pokémon DVDs and the
Ranma 1/2 OVA/movies DVD, so it's not like you lost money). This actually isn't the first time I got bootleg/counterfeit Sailor Moon stuff, I have myself a counterfeit Sailor Moon figurine that could fool anyone not in the know, but bootlegs honestly fascinate me so I take what I can get. This sounds like a cool rabbit hole to follow if there was a way to find more information about it.
